Today we’d like to introduce you to Clay Stanley.
Hi Clay, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My number one obsession in life has always been movies. Since I was 4 years old, my father would take my brother and I to the local library in Front Royal, VA to check out a book and a couple of movies. This collection however, contained almost no modern films at all. Everything on their shelf were movies dating from the 1920s to the early 70’s. I became obsessed with Dracula, Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, etc. Anything with monsters and in black in white was fine by me. As I got older, my taste in movies expanded, and I knew that what I wanted to do with my life was to tell stories.
All throughout my life I have written scripts, made short films, and worked on sets. Once COVID hit, I worked remotely, monitoring the ESPN livestreams but I wanted to be behind a camera. I must have applied for over 100 jobs on LinkedIn with the work “video” or “camera” in the title. The following week, I see an email from Paperboys Films with the subject reading “Lead Videographer position.” My net was cast so wide that I didn’t even remember applying for that job so I did a Google search and was bummed when I found out they were a wedding videography company. I didn’t want to shoot weddings. I wanted to work in the narrative space. That night, I came across an interview on YouTube of one of my favorite filmmakers, Sidney Lumet, giving his advice to young directors. He said, “take any job where you get behind a camera. There’s no bad work.” Right then I decided to take the job even though I was terrified. I filmed one wedding before this and I just remember it being stressful but I took the job anyway and moved to Fredericksburg, VA.
During my 2 years working for Paperboys, I must have shot and edited roughly 80 weddings. Trial by fire sounded like paradise. In that time, I learned almost everything I know about filming weddings and it gave me the confidence to give it a shot on my own in 2022 and I am still going today. lot of wedding videos I see rely more on image quality rather than trying to tell a visual story. It’s tough. Especially on a day where you only get one shot to get the shot, it’s easy just to get a collection of little slow motion clips and edit them to dramatic music (which I am and have been guilty of). Telling a story can be tricky but that is my main priority.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Typical small business story. Good months and bad months. Trickiest part was trying to figure out how to structure everything while having barely any money for advertising. These days my bookings have primarily come from word of mouth. Clients telling their friends about me so when they get married they book me.
Trying to find and balance another job on top of running Set in Stone was another challenge as well.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I make wedding videos. Originally, I would show up to a wedding and do alot of posing and directing couples for portraits but these days I have taken a more fly on the wall approach. I see so many wedding videos that are just slow motion shots of everything but what’s missing are the little moments that pass the couple by as the day goes on. My goal is to both transport the couple back to their wedding day by showing them the moments they remember along with moments they may have missed.
What matters most to you? Why?
Small moments. Every important life event is a collection of little organic moments that take us back in time at a glace.
Contact Info:
- Website: www,setinstonefilms.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/setinstoneva/
